Ring around the Rosie
by Psycho Babble
Summary: A CSI of a small town needs help. Rating for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

Ring around the rosie

a a a a

Disclaimer: I don't own anything/anyone from CSI, no money being made etc etc, you know the drill.

For this fic I'm recycling the name of Phoenix Matthews as my main character, others will appear. Please do not use them. This fic starts around the beginning of season 6.

Part 1

Sighing I took my sunglasses off and tucking them in a pocket of my leather jacket as I crouched next to the fifth victim. I already wore a pair of gloves. I heard voices coming closer, although there was a hair dryer styling chair blocking the view of the body, I glanced back at Deputy Jordon Mayer who stood by the door of the towns only salon.

"Can you bring that changing screen closer, no one else needs to see this," I stood up, heading over to the door and pulling it open, stepping outside. I could hear the man before I saw him round the corner.

"Where's my son?! Where's Ryan?!" He came around the corner. Phoenix hurried over to him. He caught sight of me almost immediately.

"Where is he?!" His eyes moved towards the salon. I quickly put myself between him and the salon.

"Mayor, you need to go home," I said. Jack Travis was the towns mayor. He tried to get past me. The towns other deputy David Mack came forward, trying to pull Jack backward.

"Let me go, that's my son!" His voice was desperate. I held up my hands in front of me.

"Mayor...Jack, I need you to stay here," I looked up at him. Already I could see the tears coming from his eyes.

"He's all I have left since Lucy died..." he whispered. I nodded, hands still up.

"I know, but you need to let me do the job this town pays me for. If you go in there now, whatever evidence is there will be contaminated. When we catch this you want him to be punished for what he's done and for that to happen you can't go in there, alright?" I was looking him right in the eye. Eventually he nodded once.

"I'll do everything I can to get this guy, Jack," I told him. He moved back to sit on a nearby bench.

"Hopefully soon," Mack said to me. I sighed, shaking my head.

"Not alone, I won't. I've said that to all the parents. This damn bastard has made me a fucking liar..." I turned and went back into the salon.

a a a a

I walked down the corridor, a number of files in one hand, I had driven a few hours to get to Las Vegas. He was in his office, a grey haired man sitting opposite him. I knocked on the door and Captain Jim Brass waved me in. I opened the door, walking in and closing it behind myself. He was writing something down in a notepad.

"Just set it on the desk," he said.

"Good to see you again to, Jim," I said. At the sound of my voice he looked up, and gave me a real smile, closing his notepad, standing up and coming around the desk to me.

"Phoenix, now here's a face I haven't seen in a while," he came towards me. Arms out wide.

"Is it okay to hug you?" He asked. I smiled and did just that, a tight hug of genuine fondness.

"Hey, I'd be disappointed if you didn't," I moved back from him. Noticing the look that came from the other man.

"Gil Grissom, meet an old friend of mine, Phoenix Benning," Brass introduced us.

"Matthews," I corrected, shrugging.

"Mothers maiden name, long story," I hefted the files in my hand.

"Sorry to say, but this is mostly a business call. Already cleared through the upper levels, I came to hopefully bring you guys up to speed. Dragon Falls is the town I'm working in, few hours out of Vegas. Any-" I broke off as Brass interuppted.

"Can you spare anyone, Gil?" Brass looked at Grissom. Grissom nodded, standing up.

"Nick just finished up his case. I think I can spare him and maybe Greg for a while," he said, leading the way out the door.

"I got some work to finish up here, if you have time before heading back let's go grab something to eat and talk, huh?" Brass asked. I nodded, then grinned.

"If I miss you today, I'll see you next week. Transferring in here, Jim," I waved to him and headed after Grissom. He was already in the break room by the time I got there.

"Greg, Nick, this is CSI Phoenix Matthews, and she needs some help," Grissom said, sitting down at the table. I nodded to them both, the one eating the sandwich nodded back, the other one smiled.

"Cool name," the other said. I smiled a little.

"Thanks," I replied. Grissom cleared a space on the table and I spread out the folders. I opened the first one, the pictures of the first two victims on top.

"First two..." I took a deep breath, getting my focus back, before I continued.

"Allison and Robbie Christensen, twins, four years old. Taken from the family home on the night of September eightheenth. Found the next morning by a man walking his dog just after seven am, sitting on a park bench, cause of death exsanguination due to being stabbed multiple times. On arrival at the family home Deputy David Mack reported that the parents and older brother were still asleep and unaware of the kidnapping and murder of Allison and Robbie," I paused, closing that folder and opening the next one.

"Evidence?" Nick sked, voice terse. I shook my head.

"Whoever is doing this seems to have a very good knowledge of forensics. Each crime scene got the full works on it. I found nothing, no fingerprints, no blood, no hair, nothing. It's like these kids just disappeared from their beds and reappeared where their bodies were found," I looked down at the next folder. The bright blue eyes of a blonde haired boy looked up at me.

"Daniel Abraham, age three. Taken from his family home on the night of September the twenty first. Found the next morning tied to a lamppost outside the grocery store, found by the store owner, who was coming to open his store earlier than usual. Stabbed multiple times," I reached for the next folder opening it gently.

"Cordelia and Cornelia Wright, the youngest victims, age two, identical twins. Taken on September twenty second. Two churches in town, one twin found on the front steps of each church. Again multiple stab wounds, before this the causes of death were multiple stab wounds...normal stab wounds, causing the victims to bleed out. In this case it was..." I paused again. I ran a hand down my face.

"The...ahh...doc says the person who did this stuck his knife into...inside them..." I didn't look at anyone, reaching a slightly shaky hand for the last folder, flipping it open.

"Somtimes I really hate my job..." I muttered.

"Ryan Travis, four years old, father is Jack Travis town mayor slash manager and the reason he finally let me call in some help. He was found in a hair salon, taken from his home September twenty third. Stabbed multiple times, but again the cause of death was a knife stabbed into his..." I shrugged, took a seat at the table, sitting back in the chair. I sighed, running a tired hand down my face, shaking my head.

"The Kind of stuff I usually deal with is a broken farm fence or someone stealing a candy bar from the grocery store. That's why I'm transferring out of there, I'm lucky if I even earn a fraction of what they pay me," I sighed.

"I had two men I thought might be the suspect. I started digging through old cases in Dragon Falls. The last time there was a murder in that town was in nineteen seventy seven. It's a very quiet town, where people go to raise their family, grow old...that sort of thing...anyway, the files on these three murders back in seventy seven. Three children, the second two taken in the four days following the original murder. In order of their murders Rachel Stevens, age three, Dean Mackenzie, also three years old and Bradley Stirling. Taken from their homes the night before and each found in a very public place the next morning. Whoever's doing this, has been doing it a long time, maybe in other areas, I don't know," I looked around at them.

"The two original suspects I had were ruled out. One was two years old at the time of the murders and the other wasn't even born yet. Each of the these cases have certain things in common. The child or children were taken from their home the night before, the others in the house; parents, siblings and in one case one of the victims friends was sleeping over, no one saw or heard anything. In the latest ones, there was no fingerprints, blood, or trace of any kind found in the house. I believe that the person doing this somehow drugged or otherwise incapacitated in such a way that they either didn't see or hear anything, or they don't remember it. Same with where they were found, it was just a dump site. Each victim was stabbed thirty seven times and that in my opinion takes a hell of a lot of rage, but to keep it to exactly that number every time also takes a lot of control. It's what happened in between...I know I shouldn't let this stuff get to me, keep my mind on the job, all that...but...murdering kids is one thing, torturing them for hours before you kill them, that just..." I sighed and shrugged. Nick looked away, I could see his jaw tightening and clenching of his hands.

"I want this guy, hell the whole town wants this guy. But I have nothing on him...or her, no evidence, no witnesses. I don't have the experience and I don't have the right equipment," I shook my head. What more could I say?

"Greg, Nick, I want you two on this," Grissom stated. I stood up, gathering the files together again.

"I'm heading out in a few minutes, you guys might want to grab some stuff and bring some warm clothes to, it gets really cold out there," I told them, heading out the door. Out to the parking lot, I put the files in the trunk of my car. Then sat on the hood, waiting for Greg and Nick. After a few minutes I saw them coming towards me, both of them carrying backpacks.

"Hoping you guys have a car or something, just in case," I said, standing up. Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Just in case of what?" He asked.

"My beloved heap of junk stalls...again. I'm actually surprised it made it all the way here," I shrugged.

"Not a problem, we can take one of the SVU's, I'll go grab the keys," Greg said, turning to jog back inside. I walked over to the drivers side door, opened it with a loud squeak, I winced.

"Need a little oil there?" Nick asked me.

"Among many other things," I said. He laughed a little at that.

"I should replace it, almost twenty years old, but..." I shrugged again, not really having a reason. At that moment Greg drove past us in the SVU, waved out the window.

"I'll see you guys there," he called.

"I guess you're riding with me," I said to him. Getting behind the wheel and leaning across to unlock the passenger door.

"Just ignore the holes in the floor," I suggested. He gave me a look, I shrugged turned the key in the ignition...a few times before it started and i pulled out, heading back to Dragon Falls.

a a a a

We got back to Dragon Falls just after ten pm, we had overtaken Greg on the way in and he now followed behind us.

"You guys can stay at my place, if you want?" I glanced over at Nick.

"It's the off season, so motels closed for the winter," I explained.

"Sure, thanks," he said. I turned right, glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Greg follow us.

"So, how do you know Brass?" Nick asked me.

"Long story," I said, not wanting to talk about it with a guy I just met.

"Aww, c'mon," he grinned at me.

"Not happening," I pulled into the small driveway in front of the small house I rented, Greg parked at the curb. Nick got out of the car and moved to the trunk to grab his bag. I reached to open the door with one hand and the seatbelt with my other. A few seconds later I sighed and moved my hands back to the steering wheel. Nick came around my side of the car, looking in the open window at me. Greg walked towards the house.

"You coming?" Greg asked me on the way past. I sighed again and nodded.

"Yep," I replied. The two of the them waited, probably because they couldn't get into the house until I unlocked it. Greg looked at Nick and vice verse.

"Well...?" Nick asked eventually.

"Well..." I looked at them.

"My car's a piece of junk and now it's locked me in and the seatbelt won't open...so...do either of you have a penknife?" I asked. I didn't smile or even laugh, even though I did find this funny. Greg laughed, reaching in his pocket and then handed me a penknife. I took it, turning and reaching down sawing the blade through the seatbelt, reached over to open the passenger door to get out and found it wouldn't open either.

"Oh for the love of..." I mumbled, I started climbing out my window.

"If you say anything..." I gave the two of them a look as soon as I was out of the car and gave Greg back his knife. Nick held both hands up defensively.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he said. I grabbed the files and headed up the front walk, unlocking the door walking inside. That was when my radio came to life.

"Matthews you there?" A male voice came through. I dumped the files on a small stand just inside the door, pulled the radio out of my pocket.

"What is it, Kenny?" I asked.

"Jordon just called in, neighbor found Kyle Roberts on his porch, he's dead. He's waiting on Evan to get there and they might need you there," Kenny replied.

"Mind if I drive? We'll get there faster," I looked at Greg and he passed me the keys.

"We're on our way. Where's Evan right now?" I asked, as I turned and headed out the front door again, Nick and Greg had dropped their bags off, but were already heading out to the SVU.

"I just called him. He says he's out at the Wright's place, but he should be on his way in soon," Kenny responded. I got in the SVU with Nick and Greg and started driving to the Roberts place. I looked at Nick in the rearview mirror and then at Greg next to me.

"Kyle Roberts has one daughter, I think she's five, married to Laura for...I don't know how long now," I said. Greg looked back at me.

"How do you know all that?" He asked me. I shrugged, made a turn onto Maple avenue.

"This is the kind of town where everyone knows everybody else. If your neighbors don't see you for a few days they check up on you. If you're sick, your neighbor will bring you food, take care of your kids...if you can't get around easily folks'll do your grocery shopping. Stuff like that," I flashed a quick grin at him.

"That's another reason I wanna get out of here, I mean it's nice and all, but...it's a little creepy at the same time," I pulled up to the curb behind Meyers patrol car and got out. I wasn't expecting to find much evidence here, just like at the others. I nodded to Jordon who stood just in front of the porch steps.

"Laura says Nina is gone," he said.

"You didn't move Kyle or touch anything?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Seemed obvious to me that he's dead. There's at least two shots to the chest, he's escalating," he replied. I nodded moved past him and up the steps, pulling on a pair of gloves as I went. I crouched by the body carefully, so as not to disturb any possible evidence, I looked him over. Nick moved up behind and Greg went into the house with Jordon. Then I saw something next to the body, my eyes narrowed as I put a marker in place and picked up the small intricately carved picture frame, with the picture of a young girl in it. I held it out to Nick and he put it into a little envelope.

"Make sure no one else sees that and don't mention it to anybody," I said.

"Why?" He asked, thinking it was an odd request.

"Trust me, I have my reasons," I looked up at him, he nodded and put the envelope in a pocket.

"Nothing else I can see, can you help me turn the body?" I moved up by the head and shoulders and we turned him on his side.

"No exit wounds, unlucky for this guy, lucky for us...if we can trace the bullets," I turned at the sound of a car pulling up, the sheriff had arrived. He walked up to the porch. I stood up, coming to the top of the steps.

"Stay there, Evan," I ordered. He frowned slightly, but did as I told him to.

"What is it?" He asked.

"If there's any evidence I don't want more people just confusing what's here," I explained. He nodded, accepting that reason. I went back to the body and to look for more evidence.

a a a a

We were back to the Police station with what little evidence we had. The body had been taken to the mortuary, the doctor was going to do the autopsy there. I already had my suspicions as to who it was now. As soon as we got to the station and headed inside with the evidence. The Sheriff and Jordon Mayer were already there, the sheriff coming towards us as soon as we came in.

"I want to see what you have so far," he stated. I shook my head, setting down the stuff i was carrying on a desk.

"We need to go through it all properly first. When we have answers, you'll have answers," I was watching him closely. Both Nick and Greg seemed to sense something was up, despite me not saying anything about my suspicions.

"Phoenix, he's the sheriff he knows how to deal with this kind of stuff," Jordon put in.

"Not now, Jordon," I didn't look at Mayer, my eyes still on the sheriff.

"I just want to take a look at what we have, I'll do my best not to contaminate anything," Evan moved towards the evidence I had set down on the desk. I moved my right hand to the pistol and closed my fingers around the butt of my weapon after, flicking the lock on the holster open. I heard both Greg and Nick doing the same.

"Back off, Sheriff," I said firmly. He paused in his tracks.

"You going to shoot me if I don't?" His voice clearly stating the fact that he didn't believe I would actually challenge him. He made a quick move for the desk, I moved in between him and it, pulling my gun clear of the holster.

"You need to back down and let us do our job, sheriff," my eyes narrowed at him.

"You think I had something to do with this?" He asked.

"You're the sheriff here, I'm the CSI, as are these two gentlemen with me. We collect and analyze the evidence. That's our job, not yours. Now I won't tell you again, back off," this was the first time I had ever had to pull my weapon on someone outside of target practice. He looked unsure for a moment.

"She right, Sheriff Stevens, get back," Nick said from behind me. The sheriff still stood his ground. Jordon moved up behind him slowly, not really believing what was happening here.

"Evan, come on. Just let them take care of this," he said. The sheriff moved his hand towards his own holster. I raised my gun, actually pointing it at him.

"Don't do that," Nick said sharply.

"I'm just taking my gun out, Jordon said that Kyle was shot. Check my gun, it hasn't been fired recently," he held his gun out to me. I glanced back at Greg and Nick, both nodded. I looked back at Evan, reholstered my own weapon, pulled on a glove and took his gun. Ejecting the clip and checking it.

"He's right," I said, setting the gun on the desk.

"Give me your backup piece," I ordered. He paused, as if it was unexpected.

"Don't look at me like that, every cop I've ever known has a backup piece somewhere. Now give it to me," I held out my gloved hand. Slowly he bent down and pulled a pistol from an ankle holster, standing up again he gave it to me. I popped it open, looking up at the sheriff.

"Three shots fired," I stated. I passed the gun back to Greg.

"You want to try explaining that now, or are you actually going to make us process all the evidence first?"

"Have you ever heard them? Chattering, screaming, laughing...getting in the way! Who the hell do they think they are?!" He exploded. Jordon blinked as if coming out of a dream, reaching for his gun and I knew his intention was to shoot Evan. Quickly I moved past the sheriff, knowing that Nick and Greg had me covered, at least I hoped so.

"Jordon, don't do that," I put my hand over his that was just pulling his gun out. I looked into his eyes.

"After what he's done?! He deserves to die!" Jordon glared back at me. I knew his anger wasn't directed at me.

"He's the sheriff and he did all this!" He tried to pull his hand free of mine.

"I know. He's the sheriff of this town," I kept my voice calm.

"No one here will say anything if I kill him,"

"No, they won't. But we are the law in this town and we all took an oath to abide by it. Put the gun away, Jordon," I told him. Tears came to his eyes, and he shook his head.

"Allie and Robbie were my sisters kids. I loved them," his voice was quiet.

"I know. Sarah needs you now, she and Darryl both need you to be strong and help them through this. Enough people have died in this place already, we don't need anymore," I pushed his gun back into his holster and he let it go. I kept my hand where it was for another moment, until I was sure he wasn't going to pull it again. I stepped back from him, turning back to the sheriff.

"Evan Stevens, you are under arrest..." I pulled him back towards the only cell in the building, reading him the rest of his rights on the way. After locking him in, I looked back at the others. Picking up the evidence I had put down when I came in.

"Keep an eye on him Jordon, I'll be back in a while," I headed out the door, followed by the two other CSI's.

"First night you get here and it's solved already," I shook my head, frowning a little.

"Yeah, then why don't you look happy?" Greg asked.

"One adult and eight kids were murdered in this town and not in very nice ways, would you be happy?" I looked at him.

"That's not all though. Maybe it's just me but this seems to easy, up to now he was very careful not to leave any evidence...so why now?"

"Maybe Kyle Roberts saw him coming out of the house with his daughter, or close by," Nick suggested.

"It was the sheriff, so Kyle may have thought that he was bringing his daughter back. But Stevens knew that he couldn't leave a witness and because he was the sheriff Kyle didn't suspect any wrongdoing so he didn't expect getting killed," he continued. I nodded thoughtfully.

"Maybe so, I'm probably worrying over nothing..."

"We still have time to get back before the shift is over," Greg said. He looked at Nick.

"Greg's right, we should head back soon," Nick said. I nodded, took the SVU keys and my house keys from a pocket.

"Just put the house keys under the mat when you're done. I'm going to stay here and make sure Jordon or anyone else doesn't loose their cool again until I can call the state police in the morning," I handed the keys to him. He grinned back at me.

"Seea ya when ya get to Vegas," he said, jogging over and getting into the SVU. Greg drove it away down the mainstreet and I went back into the station.


	2. Chapter 2

Ring around the Rosie

Part 2

a a a a

I came into Vegas on the bus late on Wednesday evening. I was actually surprised to see that Brass had come to pick me up.

"Hey...how did you know what time I was coming in at?" I asked him, letting him take one of my bags.

"One of the deputies you worked for put in a call, thought it'd be nice to come down here myself," he replied, putting my bag in his trunk and I put in the ones I carried.

"Figures, they threw a going away shindig for me today, I think the whole town showed. I guess they must have liked me or something," I got in the passenger seat once he unlocked the car doors.

"Why did you leave it until the last minute to get up here?" Brass asked.

"You off all people know the answer to that," was all I said. He nodded as he started the car and drove us to the CSI lab. I grabbed my bags from his trunk and headed inside with them, asked direction to the locker room after showing my ID and went to dump my stuff in there. There was an older woman in there already with reddish blonde hair. She smiled at me as she put some things her locker.

"Just come in tonight?" She asked. I held out my hand to her.

"Yeah, Phoenix Matthews," I introduced myself.

"Catherine Willows, welcome to Las Vegas," she pulled a jacket on.

"Thanks, hoping it's slightly more interesting than the last town I was in," I said. She laughed, nodding as she closed her locker.

"If there's one thing Las Vegas on graveyard shift isn't, it's boring," she told me. I went to the locker I'd been assigned to and opened it, putting some things inside.

"Hello, ladies," Warrick Brown walked into the room, Nick Stokes right behind him. I looked towards Catherine.

"I think you're the first person to ever call me a lady," I said, turning to look at him.

"Phoenix Matthews," I shook his outstretched hand.

"Hey, Nick," I smiled at him.

"Hey, have you ever been a cheerleader?" He asked suddenly. I blinked at the unexpected question.

"Uh...no," I laughed a little

"Do I look like a cheerleader to you?" I asked. He made a grunting like noise and went to his locker. I looked to Catherine, who just shrugged. I followed her out to what was probably the break room and general meeting area.

"Hey, Greg," I said to the CSI already sitting at the table.

"So, how do things usually run around here?" I asked.

"Things usually run right from the start of shift," I heard Grissoms voice behind me.

"Miss Matthews, you will be with Greg,"

"I get lead? Yesss!" Greg pumped his fist.

"For a break in," Grissom gave Greg the info sheet. Greg took it with a sigh.

"A break in? seriously?" He asked. Grissom gave him a look.

"Hey, at least you get to babysit someone," I told him. Nick and Warrick came into the room.

"Yeah, great, let's go, newbie," Greg stood up and walked out the door.

"Newbie? Hey, I'm very good at most video games," I followed him. I grabbed a set of keys.

"And I'm also driving," I informed him.

"Do you even know which way we're going?" He asked.

"Well...no, but no time like the present to learn, right?"

"Give me the keys," he held out his hands. I let out a long mock sigh and handed them over. We got in and he started driving, to one of the suburbs. We walked up the front walkway.

Turned out to be just that, nothing was stolen no one was hurt. It also turned out to be the husband and the wife who owned the house that set it all up, hoping to cash in on the insurance.

a a a a

A few days later I looked around Sara's apartment. It was small, but comfortable and neat.

"This will be your room," she led me into one of the two bedrooms.

"Nice place, how much did you say the rent was?" I asked her.

"Three fifty a month," she replied. I blinked, having thought it would be a lot more than that, then smiled at her.

"Sounds right in my price range, I'll take it," I set my bags down by at the end of the bed and pulled my wallet from my pocket, paying her in cash.

"Thanks, I'll be going to the grocery store in a while if you need to grab some stuff," she invited. I nodded, smiled at her.

"Yeah, it'll be nice to have something that doesn't come from a fast food place," I started to unpack the few bags I had.

"I thought I'd be spending at least a week looking for a new place, so thanks, I really appreciate this," I said. Putting some long sleeved tshirts in the dresser drawer.

"Hey, you need a place to stay," she said.

"So what's this whole breakfast thing all about?" I asked as I headed for the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Twice a month the graveyard gets together and does something together, not always breakfast. That's my deal, Warrick's is we go do paintball or go kart track, something like that, Greg does board games or video games and Nick does a poker night," she grinned. I filled a glass with water.

"A night...or day together with no Grissom, he claims it isn't his 'thing' and Catherine prefers to spend time with Lindsey and tonight Hodges is also coming,"

"Oh, god," I muttered.

"So you mind if I help with your breakfast thing?" I took a swallow of my water. Sara shook her head.

"Plenty of work to go around when there's five people to feed," she replied.

"You haven't lived until you try my cranberry and white chocolate chip pancakes," I told her.

"Sounds great, ready to go?" Sara asked me. I nodded, setting my glass on the drain board and followed her out to her car.

a a a a

I returned to the table with a plate of pancakes and some bacon, moving in between Warrick and Hodges to sit down.

"Nice jeans," Hodges leaned back to look at my ass.

"They'd look great on my bedroom floor," he continued. I sat down, picking up my fork.

"Yeah, if I ever get as desperate as that line, I'll look you up," I reponded. Sitting right across the table from Nick, I didn't miss the narrowing of his eyes when he looked at hodges. I started to eat, half listening to the conversation going on around me.

"Oh...you think so, huh?" Warrick smirked at Nick.

"Then tell me, how did it get there?" Nick asked.

"Easy, the stepdaughter left it there, she was jealous of all the attention her stepbrothers were getting," Greg put in. That was when I felt a hand on my leg.

"Hodges," I looked at him.

"What?" He was studiously looking at his plate.

"Take your hand of my thigh, before you have an accident," I said. His hand didn't move.

"I'm fucking serious, Hodges," my look turned to a glare. There was silence around the table, all eyes on me and Hodges.

"Hodges...do what she says," Nick said from across the table. Slowly Hodges removed his hand. I stood up, taking my plate and dumping what was left of my pancakes in the trash, then walked out, heading for the bathroom and slamming the door. Warrick gave Hodges a look.

"Do you have to try to get with EVERY female that walks past you?" He asked sarcastically. I pressed my forehead against the mirror, closed my eyes. I let out a sigh, blinked my eyes open again.

"Just let it pass..." I whispered. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. There was a knock on the door.

"You okay in there, Phoenix?" Nick's voice came through the door. I sighed again, turned around and opened the door, smiled a little.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. He looked at me for a long moment.

"Want to go back in to the others?" I led the way, not waiting for his answer. Moved my seat away from Hodges and sat down, picking up my cup of tea and drinking it slowly. The conversation moved on to something else. I didn't even notice when Sara stood up and walked Hodges and Warrick to the door, Greg had left a few minutes earlier.

"Phoenix?" Nick's voice broke through my zoned out state.

"Huh?" I blinked over at him.

"I was asking if you'd like to go get a coffee or something after tomorrows shift is done?" He asked. I nodded, smiled back at him.

"Sure," I sipped some of almost cold tea. He grinned ear to ear.

"The others joining us?" I asked. The grin dropped and it suddenly hit me, now the looks he Had been sending Hodges way earlier made sense.

"Oh!" I blushed brightly.

"Sorry I...do you think that's a good idea? With us working together I mean," and almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth a little voice whispered in my mind '_It's just coffee'._ I shrugged, still blushing, then nodded.

"That sounds great, I'd really like that," I told him. The grin was back in an instant, he stood up.

"Great, I'll see you later," he headed for the door. I watched him go. I started clearing the table and a few moments later Sara returned. I gave her a slightly accusing look.

"Why didn't you say something?" I asked. She gave me a blank look, reaching for a dish cloth and started drying.

"About what?" She asked.

"Nick..." I replied. She smiled, dried off a cup.

"I thought you knew, he's been kind of obvious about liking you," she told me. I blushed, shook my head and gave her a rueful grin.

"A CSI for a few years now and some stuff passes right over my head," I said.

a a a a

It was a few weeks later and I sat across the table from Nick in a restaurant. We'd gone out a few times and all this time a part of was actually liking my new relationship, but at the same time something was holding me back

"My folks are still in Texas, my father's a judge and mom used to be lawyer," he said. He took another forkful of food.

"Never been to Texas, should have known you were; it's in your accent," I smiled at him. He smiled back, took a sip of his water.

"So, where are your family and where did you grow up?" He asked. I blinked, not expecting that question, I should have as it was bound to come up eventually.

"I...they're in Los Angeles..." it wasn't really a lie.

"Grew up around there," I shrugged, taking a long drink of water.

"You ever go back to visit?" He asked.

"Not really," I replied, at his questioning look I sighed.

"Maybe I'll tell you some day,"

"Sounds like a cop out to me," I knew he was teasing. My jaw clenched tightly.

"It's something I don't want to discuss it," I said shortly. I stood up, tossing my napkin on the table.

"I need to use the bathroom," I turned to walk away.

"What...? What did I do?" He asked. I let out a deep sigh, looking back at him, sitting back down.

"Nothing, I'm sorry...it's just something I don't want to talk about," i told him. He nodded that, seeming to accept it.

"Alright," he said. There was a long awkward pause.

"So what kind of movies do you like? I have a preference for action movies, they don't require you to pay much attention, so you can just watch it," I said, in an attempt to get things back on a more comfortable footing.

"Probably about the same. I mean, who doesn't enjoy a good action flick?" He grinned.

"My thoughts exactly. But a good fantasy movie is good as well," I smiled back at him.

"What about romances and...those kind of movies?" He asked. I shuddered dramatically.

"Eww...no thanks," I finished the last of my dinner. Nick laughed and nodded.

"I think I love you," he said suddenly. I assumed he was kidding after what I just said. I drank some more water.

"I'm serious," he said. I nearly spit my water back out and restrained the urge I had to run like hell away from him.

"Yeah...ok..." I mumbled awkwardly. He frowned a little at that and I was saved by my phone ringing, I reached into my pocket and pulled it out, answering it his phone rang a moment later.

"Okay, I'm on my way," I hung up and put it back in my pocket, Nick was still talking. So I waved the waitress over and paid for our meal. As soon as he got off the pone, we stood up.

"I wish you'd stop doing that. I asked you out, let me pay," he said.

"Just habit," I shrugged. I didn't want to be beholden to anyone for anything.

"Got a call to go in, warehouse with multiple victims," he said. I nodded, pulling my jacket on.

"Same one, guess it's all hands on deck for this one," I got in the passenger side of his car. He got in the drivers seat, put the keys in the ignition and started driving.

a a a a

I put down a marker next to yet another spent shell casing. Detective Lew Vartann was standing near the door, but talking on his phone, his back to me. Greg; my wonderful 'babysitter' was in a room nearby and Catherine, Warrick and Nick were nearby somewhere. I crouched next to a small cluster of shell casings. I saw movement out of the edge of my eye. I signeled Vartann, who had just hung up, letting him know, he unholstered his gun, as did I.

"Step out into the light, slowly," Vartann ordered. There was a long pause and then the sound of running feet and a door being shoved open.

"Son of a...I hate it when they run..." I took off after him. Vartann was behind me and I could hear him on his radio as he ran.

"Hold it!" I called. I still didn't have a clear view of who it was. He was fast, I picked up speed trying to catch up to him, even though I knew it was probably a bad idea. Greg was coming after Vartann, but Vartann fell back some more. I chased him for what felt like a few minutes, but was probably only a few seconds. I turned around some concrete piping and lost sight of the person I was chasing for a moment, then I saw him up ahead, as he turned and shot in my general direction. I knew I was gaining on him. He let off a few more shots and kept running. That was when I felt the tearing pain in the right side of my chest.

"Shit...not now..." I ground out, my hand going to the side of my chest. Vartann rounded the corner, saw me and believing that I had been shot stopped next to me.

"I'm fine..." I coughed, trying to breathe properly.

"He went that way..." I pointed in the direction and he ran that way. Greg came around the the piping after a few seconds, I was now doubled over slightly, hand still against my chest. I was starting to feel a little light headed, i sucked in as much air as I could. He pulled his radio out of his pocket and put in a call for paramedics. Warrick joined us right before my body decided to show how tough I really wasn't and I passed out.

a a a a

I woke up in a hospital bed, Nick stood in the doorway and Brass was sitting in a nearby chair. I could feel a nasal cannula on my upper lip, feeding me some oxygen. Brass was on his feet as soon as he saw I was awake.

"Just what the hell were you thinking?!" He snapped. I could still feel a little pain in my chest, obviously while I was out the tear had been repaired. Nick moved closer to my bed.

"What was I meant to do? Let him get away...he didn't, right?" I asked. Jim Brass, shook his head.

"Yes, there were plenty of other people who were there, that don't risk getting-" he was obviously not happy with me. I narrowed my eyes at him, flashing a quick look at Nick, then back to Brass.

"Look at me, I'm fine," I said calmly, interuppting him.

"Waking up in a hospital after something like this, isn't 'fine', Phoenix. It's stupid, you could have been killed," he was glaring at me slightly. I shot another quick look at Nick.

"Brass is right," Nick wasn't sure what exactly was going on here.

"Okay, you're both right, I shouldn't have done that," I agreed, trying to defuse this before Brass started talking about things I didn't want mentioned. Clearly he was having none of it.

"You think that no one knows about you and Nick," Brass nodded in Nick's direction.

"That's no ones business but mine and Nick's," I argued. Brass sighed, trying to calm down.

"If you continue this relationship with him...you're going to have to tell him eventually," he said. Nick had a confused look on his face.

"No, Jim," I shook my head at him. Brass looked right back at me.

"I thought you were over having this deathwish thing. You think that this is what your-" he continued.

"I get it, okay?! I was a fucking idiot, alright?! It won't happen again!" I practically yelled at him, then started coughing. Nick hurried to pour me a some water from the jug on the nightstand. I took it, taking a few sips. Brass shook his head.

"I got to get back to work," he stated, turned and walked out.

"What was that all about?" Nick asked, concern evident in his voice as he sat down in the chair next to my bed.

"It isn't important," I told him.

"It sounded important to me," he said quietly.

"Please, Nick, don't...I don't want...I can't talk about this now..." I struggled to push down feelings I didn't want to deal with, after a moment I looked over at him. He sighed and nodded.

"Did they say how long I'd have to be in here?" I asked.

"Doctor said for a few more hours and when you get out of here take it easy for a few days," he replied.

"Yeah, that's not going to be a problem in our line of work," I said, trying to make a joke and ease the tension.

"And that's why Grissom will probably keep you on lab duty for a while," he informed me.

"I can't think of anything more fun," I made a slight face.

a a a a

A day later I sat on a stool in one of the lab rooms, trying to sort through the many shell casings that had been brought in from the warehouse murders. So far I had three different ones. According to Grissom's orders I was confined to the lab for at least a week. Greg stuck his head in the door, a file in one hand.

"Vartann is about to start interrogating the other guy we brought in, want to come observe?" he said. I nodded, stood up and followed him down to the interrogation rooms. Vartann was questioning the suspect with Warrick. His answers were slow, like he had to think of the answer before giving it.

"The arresting officer thinks he might have some mental disability," Greg explained. I nodded, continued listening. Vartann seemed to be getting a little frustrated, Warrick sad forward.

"We know you were there and that you have a gun," Warrick said. After a moment the guy nodded.

"Yeah, I watch the trains there, I like trains," his answer seemed a little off to me. I looked at Greg.

"Can I go in there?" I asked. Greg nodded, gesturing to the window. I walked over, opened it and took a seat after moving it to one end of the table.

"JT, right?" I asked. He nodded and smiled at me.

"Yeah, my mom called me James Taylor, but everyone calls me JT," he replied. I nodded, smiled back at him.

"That's cool," I said. I reached for the file that Warrick had in front of me, looking quickly through it.

"Well, JT, we have a problem. Because our evidence shows that you fired your gun in that warehouse, at least three times,"

"When I'm waiting for trains to come I practice with my gun in there. My dad told me that I should be prepared to defend myself if anything bad happens," he said carefully.

"That's smart. Unfortunetly our evidence also shows your fingerprints on some of the other shell casings we found, why is that?" I asked, I was bluffing, the fingerprints were still being run. Vartann and Warrick were looking at me, but didn't say anything, just letting me run with it.

"I think I picked up some when I was in the warehouse, I thought they might be gold and I'd be rich," he replied. I continued to smile at him.

"I grew up in foster care, JT. And one of the places I stayed at...well there was this girl. Everyone else in the home assumed that she had Downs Syndrome or there was something wrong with her," I kept watching him, no longer smiling. I jerked my chin in Vartanns and Warricks direction.

"Detective Vartann and CSI Brown here are very smart guys, so am I. But sometimes we don't look beyond the evidence, we don't see what's right in front of us. Took me a few minutes to figure out that you're just playing us, JT. You're trying to pull one over on us. I know you're smarter than you're trying to make us believe," I tilted my head slightly. Vartann and Warrick were watching me and JT.

"See, this girl I knew back then, she let people believe what they wanted to believe, in fact she sometimes even did things to enforce that belief. So here's the deal, you tell us who else was there that night, what guns they had and where we can find them...or you will go down for this whole mess," I waited for him to start talking.

"I don't know what you mean, should I call my dad?" He asked, still playing his card. I sighed, rubbed at the bridge of my nose with my fingers.

"Tell us what we want to know, JT, we have other things to do today," I said. I stood up heading for the door.

"Alright, I'll talk," he glared at me as I left.

"That was great," Greg said when I came out.

"All in a days work around here," I smiled at him.

"Speaking of work...you're about due another break," he said.

"I think I need one," I said. Actually I was feeling tired, but didn't want to admit it. Greg nodded, heading for the break room and I followed. I turned the kettle on and waited for it to boil before making myself some tea, adding in some milk and sugar. Greg had already grabbed some coffee.

"So...how come everyone's watching me like I'm a piece of glass?" I asked him, sitting at the table. He blinked at me, gave me a half smile.

"You noticed that, huh? Well when one of us is injured in the 'line of duty' we look out for each other here..." he replied. I gave him a look.

"And Brass asked you to keep an eye on me, right?" I asked. He laughed a little.

"Yeah, the way he put it was as a special favor to himi," he replied.

"Great," I muttered. I drank some tea and opened a comic someone had left on the table.


	3. Chapter 3

Ring around the Rosie

Part 3

There is sex in this chapter.

a a a a

I awoke to someones hand on my back, I lifted my head off the table.

"Huh?" I looked up to see Nick standing over me. I blinked at the bright lights.

"Shift's over, want to get out of here?" He asked. I nodded slowly, going to empty my cup and wash it.

"Yeah. How long was I asleep?" I looked back at him, squinting slightly, my eyes still getting used to the light.

"Greg says about four hours ago," Nick replied.

"He should have woken me," I said.

"You probably needed the sleep," he told me. I nodded, he was wearing a leather jacket and he had my jacket in his hand and helped me into it. We walked out to his car together. He unlocked his car and we both got in.

"I let Sara know you'd be coming home with me," he looked across at me.

"What?!" I stared at him.

"I just want to make sure that you're okay. Is that so bad?" He asked, putting the key in the ignition and starting the car.

"No..." I looked across at him.

"Thank you," I smiled a little. He grinned back, pulling out of the parking lot.

"I want to do it," he said. He drove on and there was silence again. We were getting close to his place. I'd never been there before now.

"It's just..." I shrugged, blushing a little.

"I've never actually...you know..." I trailed off again. His attention was on the road.

"Never actually what?" He spared a glance at me at a red light. After a moment of silence and I blushing a lot more.

"Never been with anyone...that way..." I was looking out the front window, wondering if he was going to change his mind and drop me back and mine and Sara's apartment. He pulled into his driveway and stopped the car, we got out and at the front door he eventually looked at me.

"I don't see the problem. I meant what I said before," he pushed the door open and ushered me in ahead of him.

"When you said what?" I asked. He closed the door softly, took his jacket off and hung it up, i did the same. He led me into the living room and over to the couch where we sat down. He kept his eyes on mine.

"I love you, those aren't just words I'm saying to get something. I mean them, it's how I feel about you," his voice was gentle. I sighed, looking away from him and nodded.

"Ok..." I said. He put a hand on my cheek, turned my face back to look at him.

"Look at me, please. Why do you have to do that? Shut me out that way?" He asked. I sighed, shook my head. Then I leaned in to kiss him. He was surprised at first, but kissed me back after a moment. His hand caressed my cheek, I kept kissing him, my hands resting on his shoulders and down his arms as I moved to straddle him. I ran my hand over his chest, he pushed his tongue against my lips and I opened my mouth, diving my own tongue into his. One of his hands moved up my back under the tshirt I wore, the other grabbed my ass, squeezing gently. I moaned against his mouth, nipping his tongue. He pulled away from me after a moment, looking up into my eyes.

"I don't want to push you into something you're not ready for," he told me. I shook my head, smiling and kissed him hard.

"I want to be with you," I said. He smiled up at me, resting his hands on my waist.

"Just wanted to be sure," he said.

"I'm sure," I kissed him again, sliding my tongue into his mouth. His hands tugged at the bottom of my tshirt insistantly, I helpd him pull it off. Showing of my very unsexy sports bra. The way he was looking in the direction of my chest made me blush.

"Sorry...I wasn't expecting-" I was saying. He ran his fingers along a scar on my side, a little below my bra.

"What's this?" He asked, looking up at me. I shook my head, putting my hand over his.

"It's not important," I said, kissing him again before pulling back a little, his hands moved to my waist, looking up at me.

"You're beautiful," he said. I blushed a little and looked away from him.

"You are..." he moved one hand to my cheek moving my face back to look at him. I smiled a little.

"Thank you," I said, moving to unbutton the shirt he wore. He struggled briefly with the clasp of my bra before getting it open and I let him slide the straps down my arm and off. I blushed brightly again, covering my chest with my arms. Nick stopped, looking up at me again.

"You've never done this before, have you?" He asked quietly. I shook my head in answer.

"Not exactly," I replied.

"What about...y'know...masturbating?" He was watching me carefully. I blushed even more.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked. He gave me a small smile, leaning up to kiss me.

"Just a little...do you mind telling me why?" He asked. I looked away from him.

"I...have my reasons...maybe someday I'll tell you..." I replied, turning to look back at him.

"I know there are things you aren't telling me...I want to know what they are, but I can wait until you're ready to talk," he told me. I smiled a little, kissed him.

"Thank you," I kissed him some more. He reached from one of my breasts, running his thump lightly over the nipple, his mouth descending on the other breast, to nip gently at that nipple. I gasped and let out a moan. I pulled at his shirt, fumbling to get the last buttons open, nipping and sucking at his throat as I did so. Nick's breathing picked up, his other hand stroking at my crotch through my jeans. I scratched lightly at his chest, humping his hand automatically. My fingers shook as I unbuttoned his jeans, sliding my hand inside them to rub his cock. He moaned, opening the fly on my jeans and trying to push them down my waist a little. After a moment I pulled away, standing up in fron of him, Nick sat forward, hands going back to the waist of my jeas and he pushed them down my legs along with my panties. He stood in front of me, taking off his own pants and boxers, hands reaching down to grip my ass, I pressied up against him. He looked down at me.

"Nervous?" He asked.

"Only a little..." I replied. He took my hand, led me back into his bedroom, I laid back on it, pulling him down on top of me.

"You don't have to be," he leaned down and kissed me. I smiled and nodded.

"I know," I let out a moan as his hand moved between my thighs again, stroking gently. I stroked his hardening cock a little faster in response. Nick kissed his way down my body, his tongue darted between my legs, licking at my clit. I let out a surprised squeak.

"What are you doing?!" I asked. He smiled up at me, resting one hand on my thigh.

"I want to taste you. Relax...you'll like it, I promise..." Nick replied. I nodded, trying to relax back against the pillow, he licked all over my pussy. I gasped and squirmed on the bed.

"Do you like that?" He asked, pausing in his ministrations to look up at me. I nodded, breathing a little hard.

"Uh huh..." I glanced down at him. He grinned, started licking me again, nipping at my clit occasionally. Then he pressed a finger inside of me.

"Ahh..." I couldn't help the sound I made, my back arched off the bed. He was moving his finger inside me, in and out slowly as he sucked my pussy. I gripped the sheets with both hands.

"Fuck..." I could feel something build inside me like a wave of pleasure and of course because I'd never actually has an orgasm before I had no idea what it was. Nick added a second finger, moving them faster inside me, nipping harder at my clit.

"I can't..." then I cried out as I came hard, my whole body tensed up. After a moment I relaxed back on the bed. He moved back up the bed to me.

"I see you enjoyed that," he smiled down at him.

"Mmmhmm..." it seemed my brain wasn't going to let me form proper words yet. I moved my hand to rest on his hip.

"Yes, I did," I smiled, leaning up to kiss him.

"But I want you in me now," I informed him, I kissed him again.

"Slow or fast?" Nick asked me. I shrugged, grinned at him.

"Pick one," I told him. He gently pushed me back against the pillow, moving in between my legs, I watched him stroke himself a few times, grab something from the nightstand and tore open the packet on the condom before carefully putting it on himsef, then he against me. I had my hands on his waist again and my fingernails dug into him as he pushed all the way inside me in one quick thrust, then rested like that until I was used to the feeling. I was the one who started moving under him, my legs either side of his. We moved slowly at first, trying to get in sync with each other and when we did it felt amazing. I shifted my hands to his ass, gripping it tightly. Nick was resting most of his weight on his arms either side of my head. He thrust deeply, but I could tell he was also being careful not to hurt me. I leaned up to kiss him a few times, and could feel how fast he was breathing. He slowed down his movement.

"Want to make this last..." he explained, a little breathless. I smiled up at him.

"So do I," I kissed him, pushing my tongue into his mouth, nipping his tongue as he slid his into my mouth. He sped up again.

"At least for a few moments," he added, smiling down at him. I moaned, nodding in agreement. He moved inside me even faster.

"Oh...god..." I could feel myself getting close to another orgasm. So was Nick, after a few moment he gasped and his body shook a little, signaling his orgasm and I came soon after he did. He was breathing hard, as he slowly pulled out of me, moving to lay next to me.

"That was great," he kissed my cheek. I grinned at him.

"Yes, it was,"

"I love you," he said. I sighed, closed my eyes for a moment.

"What? It's true...look, I know for whatever reason you can't say it...at least not yet, I can live with that," he told me. I nodded, after a moment smiled at him again.

"Going to do that again?" I asked. He laughed quietly.

"Maybe after a little rest," he replied, moving behind me.

Spooning is also 'great'.


	4. Chapter 4

Ring around the Rosie

Part 2

a a a a

I came into Vegas on the bus late on Wednesday evening. I was actually surprised to see that Brass had come to pick me up.

"Hey...how did you know what time I was coming in at?" I asked him, letting him take one of my bags.

"One of the deputies you worked for put in a call, thought it'd be nice to come down here myself," he replied, putting my bag in his trunk and I put in the ones I carried.

"Figures, they threw a going away shindig for me today, I think the whole town showed. I guess they must have liked me or something," I got in the passenger seat once he unlocked the car doors.

"Why did you leave it until the last minute to get up here?" Brass asked.

"You off all people know the answer to that," was all I said. He nodded as he started the car and drove us to the CSI lab. I grabbed my bags from his trunk and headed inside with them, asked direction to the locker room after showing my ID and went to dump my stuff in there. There was an older woman in there already with reddish blonde hair. She smiled at me as she put some things her locker.

"Just come in tonight?" She asked. I held out my hand to her.

"Yeah, Phoenix Matthews," I introduced myself.

"Catherine Willows, welcome to Las Vegas," she pulled a jacket on.

"Thanks, hoping it's slightly more interesting than the last town I was in," I said. She laughed, nodding as she closed her locker.

"If there's one thing Las Vegas on graveyard shift isn't, it's boring," she told me. I went to the locker I'd been assigned to and opened it, putting some things inside.

"Hello, ladies," Warrick Brown walked into the room, Nick Stokes right behind him. I looked towards Catherine.

"I think you're the first person to ever call me a lady," I said, turning to look at him.

"Phoenix Matthews," I shook his outstretched hand.

"Hey, Nick," I smiled at him.

"Hey, have you ever been a cheerleader?" He asked suddenly. I blinked at the unexpected question.

"Uh...no," I laughed a little

"Do I look like a cheerleader to you?" I asked. He made a grunting like noise and went to his locker. I looked to Catherine, who just shrugged. I followed her out to what was probably the break room and general meeting area.

"Hey, Greg," I said to the CSI already sitting at the table.

"So, how do things usually run around here?" I asked.

"Things usually run right from the start of shift," I heard Grissoms voice behind me.

"Miss Matthews, you will be with Greg,"

"I get lead? Yesss!" Greg pumped his fist.

"For a break in," Grissom gave Greg the info sheet. Greg took it with a sigh.

"A break in? seriously?" He asked. Grissom gave him a look.

"Hey, at least you get to babysit someone," I told him. Nick and Warrick came into the room.

"Yeah, great, let's go, newbie," Greg stood up and walked out the door.

"Newbie? Hey, I'm very good at most video games," I followed him. I grabbed a set of keys.

"And I'm also driving," I informed him.

"Do you even know which way we're going?" He asked.

"Well...no, but no time like the present to learn, right?"

"Give me the keys," he held out his hands. I let out a long mock sigh and handed them over. We got in and he started driving, to one of the suburbs. We walked up the front walkway.

Turned out to be just that, nothing was stolen no one was hurt. It also turned out to be the husband and the wife who owned the house that set it all up, hoping to cash in on the insurance.

a a a a

A few days later I looked around Sara's apartment. It was small, but comfortable and neat.

"This will be your room," she led me into one of the two bedrooms.

"Nice place, how much did you say the rent was?" I asked her.

"Three fifty a month," she replied. I blinked, having thought it would be a lot more than that, then smiled at her.

"Sounds right in my price range, I'll take it," I set my bags down by at the end of the bed and pulled my wallet from my pocket, paying her in cash.

"Thanks, I'll be going to the grocery store in a while if you need to grab some stuff," she invited. I nodded, smiled at her.

"Yeah, it'll be nice to have something that doesn't come from a fast food place," I started to unpack the few bags I had.

"I thought I'd be spending at least a week looking for a new place, so thanks, I really appreciate this," I said. Putting some long sleeved tshirts in the dresser drawer.

"Hey, you need a place to stay," she said.

"So what's this whole breakfast thing all about?" I asked as I headed for the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Twice a month the graveyard gets together and does something together, not always breakfast. That's my deal, Warrick's is we go do paintball or go kart track, something like that, Greg does board games or video games and Nick does a poker night," she grinned. I filled a glass with water.

"A night...or day together with no Grissom, he claims it isn't his 'thing' and Catherine prefers to spend time with Lindsey and tonight Hodges is also coming,"

"Oh, god," I muttered.

"So you mind if I help with your breakfast thing?" I took a swallow of my water. Sara shook her head.

"Plenty of work to go around when there's five people to feed," she replied.

"You haven't lived until you try my cranberry and white chocolate chip pancakes," I told her.

"Sounds great, ready to go?" Sara asked me. I nodded, setting my glass on the drain board and followed her out to her car.

a a a a

I returned to the table with a plate of pancakes and some bacon, moving in between Warrick and Hodges to sit down.

"Nice jeans," Hodges leaned back to look at my ass.

"They'd look great on my bedroom floor," he continued. I sat down, picking up my fork.

"Yeah, if I ever get as desperate as that line, I'll look you up," I reponded. Sitting right across the table from Nick, I didn't miss the narrowing of his eyes when he looked at hodges. I started to eat, half listening to the conversation going on around me.

"Oh...you think so, huh?" Warrick smirked at Nick.

"Then tell me, how did it get there?" Nick asked.

"Easy, the stepdaughter left it there, she was jealous of all the attention her stepbrothers were getting," Greg put in. That was when I felt a hand on my leg.

"Hodges," I looked at him.

"What?" He was studiously looking at his plate.

"Take your hand of my thigh, before you have an accident," I said. His hand didn't move.

"I'm fucking serious, Hodges," my look turned to a glare. There was silence around the table, all eyes on me and Hodges.

"Hodges...do what she says," Nick said from across the table. Slowly Hodges removed his hand. I stood up, taking my plate and dumping what was left of my pancakes in the trash, then walked out, heading for the bathroom and slamming the door. Warrick gave Hodges a look.

"Do you have to try to get with EVERY female that walks past you?" He asked sarcastically. I pressed my forehead against the mirror, closed my eyes. I let out a sigh, blinked my eyes open again.

"Just let it pass..." I whispered. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. There was a knock on the door.

"You okay in there, Phoenix?" Nick's voice came through the door. I sighed again, turned around and opened the door, smiled a little.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. He looked at me for a long moment.

"Want to go back in to the others?" I led the way, not waiting for his answer. Moved my seat away from Hodges and sat down, picking up my cup of tea and drinking it slowly. The conversation moved on to something else. I didn't even notice when Sara stood up and walked Hodges and Warrick to the door, Greg had left a few minutes earlier.

"Phoenix?" Nick's voice broke through my zoned out state.

"Huh?" I blinked over at him.

"I was asking if you'd like to go get a coffee or something after tomorrows shift is done?" He asked. I nodded, smiled back at him.

"Sure," I sipped some of almost cold tea. He grinned ear to ear.

"The others joining us?" I asked. The grin dropped and it suddenly hit me, now the looks he Had been sending Hodges way earlier made sense.

"Oh!" I blushed brightly.

"Sorry I...do you think that's a good idea? With us working together I mean," and almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth a little voice whispered in my mind '_It's just coffee'._ I shrugged, still blushing, then nodded.

"That sounds great, I'd really like that," I told him. The grin was back in an instant, he stood up.

"Great, I'll see you later," he headed for the door. I watched him go. I started clearing the table and a few moments later Sara returned. I gave her a slightly accusing look.

"Why didn't you say something?" I asked. She gave me a blank look, reaching for a dish cloth and started drying.

"About what?" She asked.

"Nick..." I replied. She smiled, dried off a cup.

"I thought you knew, he's been kind of obvious about liking you," she told me. I blushed, shook my head and gave her a rueful grin.

"A CSI for a few years now and some stuff passes right over my head," I said.

a a a a

It was a few weeks later and I sat across the table from Nick in a restaurant. We'd gone out a few times and all this time a part of was actually liking my new relationship, but at the same time something was holding me back

"My folks are still in Texas, my father's a judge and mom used to be lawyer," he said. He took another forkful of food.

"Never been to Texas, should have known you were; it's in your accent," I smiled at him. He smiled back, took a sip of his water.

"So, where are your family and where did you grow up?" He asked. I blinked, not expecting that question, I should have as it was bound to come up eventually.

"I...they're in Los Angeles..." it wasn't really a lie.

"Grew up around there," I shrugged, taking a long drink of water.

"You ever go back to visit?" He asked.

"Not really," I replied, at his questioning look I sighed.

"Maybe I'll tell you some day,"

"Sounds like a cop out to me," I knew he was teasing. My jaw clenched tightly.

"It's something I don't want to discuss it," I said shortly. I stood up, tossing my napkin on the table.

"I need to use the bathroom," I turned to walk away.

"What...? What did I do?" He asked. I let out a deep sigh, looking back at him, sitting back down.

"Nothing, I'm sorry...it's just something I don't want to talk about," i told him. He nodded that, seeming to accept it.

"Alright," he said. There was a long awkward pause.

"So what kind of movies do you like? I have a preference for action movies, they don't require you to pay much attention, so you can just watch it," I said, in an attempt to get things back on a more comfortable footing.

"Probably about the same. I mean, who doesn't enjoy a good action flick?" He grinned.

"My thoughts exactly. But a good fantasy movie is good as well," I smiled back at him.

"What about romances and...those kind of movies?" He asked. I shuddered dramatically.

"Eww...no thanks," I finished the last of my dinner. Nick laughed and nodded.

"I think I love you," he said suddenly. I assumed he was kidding after what I just said. I drank some more water.

"I'm serious," he said. I nearly spit my water back out and restrained the urge I had to run like hell away from him.

"Yeah...ok..." I mumbled awkwardly. He frowned a little at that and I was saved by my phone ringing, I reached into my pocket and pulled it out, answering it his phone rang a moment later.

"Okay, I'm on my way," I hung up and put it back in my pocket, Nick was still talking. So I waved the waitress over and paid for our meal. As soon as he got off the pone, we stood up.

"I wish you'd stop doing that. I asked you out, let me pay," he said.

"Just habit," I shrugged. I didn't want to be beholden to anyone for anything.

"Got a call to go in, warehouse with multiple victims," he said. I nodded, pulling my jacket on.

"Same one, guess it's all hands on deck for this one," I got in the passenger side of his car. He got in the drivers seat, put the keys in the ignition and started driving.

a a a a

I put down a marker next to yet another spent shell casing. Detective Lew Vartann was standing near the door, but talking on his phone, his back to me. Greg; my wonderful 'babysitter' was in a room nearby and Catherine, Warrick and Nick were nearby somewhere. I crouched next to a small cluster of shell casings. I saw movement out of the edge of my eye. I signeled Vartann, who had just hung up, letting him know, he unholstered his gun, as did I.

"Step out into the light, slowly," Vartann ordered. There was a long pause and then the sound of running feet and a door being shoved open.

"Son of a...I hate it when they run..." I took off after him. Vartann was behind me and I could hear him on his radio as he ran.

"Hold it!" I called. I still didn't have a clear view of who it was. He was fast, I picked up speed trying to catch up to him, even though I knew it was probably a bad idea. Greg was coming after Vartann, but Vartann fell back some more. I chased him for what felt like a few minutes, but was probably only a few seconds. I turned around some concrete piping and lost sight of the person I was chasing for a moment, then I saw him up ahead, as he turned and shot in my general direction. I knew I was gaining on him. He let off a few more shots and kept running. That was when I felt the tearing pain in the right side of my chest.

"Shit...not now..." I ground out, my hand going to the side of my chest. Vartann rounded the corner, saw me and believing that I had been shot stopped next to me.

"I'm fine..." I coughed, trying to breathe properly.

"He went that way..." I pointed in the direction and he ran that way. Greg came around the the piping after a few seconds, I was now doubled over slightly, hand still against my chest. I was starting to feel a little light headed, i sucked in as much air as I could. He pulled his radio out of his pocket and put in a call for paramedics. Warrick joined us right before my body decided to show how tough I really wasn't and I passed out.

a a a a

I woke up in a hospital bed, Nick stood in the doorway and Brass was sitting in a nearby chair. I could feel a nasal cannula on my upper lip, feeding me some oxygen. Brass was on his feet as soon as he saw I was awake.

"Just what the hell were you thinking?!" He snapped. I could still feel a little pain in my chest, obviously while I was out the tear had been repaired. Nick moved closer to my bed.

"What was I meant to do? Let him get away...he didn't, right?" I asked. Jim Brass, shook his head.

"Yes, there were plenty of other people who were there, that don't risk getting-" he was obviously not happy with me. I narrowed my eyes at him, flashing a quick look at Nick, then back to Brass.

"Look at me, I'm fine," I said calmly, interuppting him.

"Waking up in a hospital after something like this, isn't 'fine', Phoenix. It's stupid, you could have been killed," he was glaring at me slightly. I shot another quick look at Nick.

"Brass is right," Nick wasn't sure what exactly was going on here.

"Okay, you're both right, I shouldn't have done that," I agreed, trying to defuse this before Brass started talking about things I didn't want mentioned. Clearly he was having none of it.

"You think that no one knows about you and Nick," Brass nodded in Nick's direction.

"That's no ones business but mine and Nick's," I argued. Brass sighed, trying to calm down.

"If you continue this relationship with him...you're going to have to tell him eventually," he said. Nick had a confused look on his face.

"No, Jim," I shook my head at him. Brass looked right back at me.

"I thought you were over having this deathwish thing. You think that this is what your-" he continued.

"I get it, okay?! I was a fucking idiot, alright?! It won't happen again!" I practically yelled at him, then started coughing. Nick hurried to pour me a some water from the jug on the nightstand. I took it, taking a few sips. Brass shook his head.

"I got to get back to work," he stated, turned and walked out.

"What was that all about?" Nick asked, concern evident in his voice as he sat down in the chair next to my bed.

"It isn't important," I told him.

"It sounded important to me," he said quietly.

"Please, Nick, don't...I don't want...I can't talk about this now..." I struggled to push down feelings I didn't want to deal with, after a moment I looked over at him. He sighed and nodded.

"Did they say how long I'd have to be in here?" I asked.

"Doctor said for a few more hours and when you get out of here take it easy for a few days," he replied.

"Yeah, that's not going to be a problem in our line of work," I said, trying to make a joke and ease the tension.

"And that's why Grissom will probably keep you on lab duty for a while," he informed me.

"I can't think of anything more fun," I made a slight face.

a a a a

A day later I sat on a stool in one of the lab rooms, trying to sort through the many shell casings that had been brought in from the warehouse murders. So far I had three different ones. According to Grissom's orders I was confined to the lab for at least a week. Greg stuck his head in the door, a file in one hand.

"Vartann is about to start interrogating the other guy we brought in, want to come observe?" he said. I nodded, stood up and followed him down to the interrogation rooms. Vartann was questioning the suspect with Warrick. His answers were slow, like he had to think of the answer before giving it.

"The arresting officer thinks he might have some mental disability," Greg explained. I nodded, continued listening. Vartann seemed to be getting a little frustrated, Warrick sad forward.

"We know you were there and that you have a gun," Warrick said. After a moment the guy nodded.

"Yeah, I watch the trains there, I like trains," his answer seemed a little off to me. I looked at Greg.

"Can I go in there?" I asked. Greg nodded, gesturing to the window. I walked over, opened it and took a seat after moving it to one end of the table.

"JT, right?" I asked. He nodded and smiled at me.

"Yeah, my mom called me James Taylor, but everyone calls me JT," he replied. I nodded, smiled back at him.

"That's cool," I said. I reached for the file that Warrick had in front of me, looking quickly through it.

"Well, JT, we have a problem. Because our evidence shows that you fired your gun in that warehouse, at least three times,"

"When I'm waiting for trains to come I practice with my gun in there. My dad told me that I should be prepared to defend myself if anything bad happens," he said carefully.

"That's smart. Unfortunetly our evidence also shows your fingerprints on some of the other shell casings we found, why is that?" I asked, I was bluffing, the fingerprints were still being run. Vartann and Warrick were looking at me, but didn't say anything, just letting me run with it.

"I think I picked up some when I was in the warehouse, I thought they might be gold and I'd be rich," he replied. I continued to smile at him.

"I grew up in foster care, JT. And one of the places I stayed at...well there was this girl. Everyone else in the home assumed that she had Downs Syndrome or there was something wrong with her," I kept watching him, no longer smiling. I jerked my chin in Vartanns and Warricks direction.

"Detective Vartann and CSI Brown here are very smart guys, so am I. But sometimes we don't look beyond the evidence, we don't see what's right in front of us. Took me a few minutes to figure out that you're just playing us, JT. You're trying to pull one over on us. I know you're smarter than you're trying to make us believe," I tilted my head slightly. Vartann and Warrick were watching me and JT.

"See, this girl I knew back then, she let people believe what they wanted to believe, in fact she sometimes even did things to enforce that belief. So here's the deal, you tell us who else was there that night, what guns they had and where we can find them...or you will go down for this whole mess," I waited for him to start talking.

"I don't know what you mean, should I call my dad?" He asked, still playing his card. I sighed, rubbed at the bridge of my nose with my fingers.

"Tell us what we want to know, JT, we have other things to do today," I said. I stood up heading for the door.

"Alright, I'll talk," he glared at me as I left.

"That was great," Greg said when I came out.

"All in a days work around here," I smiled at him.

"Speaking of work...you're about due another break," he said.

"I think I need one," I said. Actually I was feeling tired, but didn't want to admit it. Greg nodded, heading for the break room and I followed. I turned the kettle on and waited for it to boil before making myself some tea, adding in some milk and sugar. Greg had already grabbed some coffee.

"So...how come everyone's watching me like I'm a piece of glass?" I asked him, sitting at the table. He blinked at me, gave me a half smile.

"You noticed that, huh? Well when one of us is injured in the 'line of duty' we look out for each other here..." he replied. I gave him a look.

"And Brass asked you to keep an eye on me, right?" I asked. He laughed a little.

"Yeah, the way he put it was as a special favor to himi," he replied.

"Great," I muttered. I drank some tea and opened a comic someone had left on the table.


End file.
